Hand SignalsDogs often learn hand signals easier than words. Our language is not natural to dogs. Dogs are very observant of body language, stance and movements. They communicate with each other using body language and gestures; so it makes sense that they understand hand signals better than our language. Another benefit - hand signals work in noisy locations and work well when your dog is in view, but at a distance and verbal commands become impractical.

Training with hand signals starts with combining your verbal command with the hand signal. Your dog will soon learn to associate your hand signal with the desired action and will respond to either verbal or hand signal. There are no official hand signals for dog training. There are some commonly used signals.